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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27718364">a mother always has to think twice (once for herself, and once for her son)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayteedancer/pseuds/kayteedancer'>kayteedancer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>November Challenge 2020 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A little murder is acceptable, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Battle of Five Armies - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Don’t copy to another site, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Ones, Protective Dís, Protective Thorin, Thorin is king under the mountain, Unrequited Bilbo Baggins/Kíli, as a treat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:16:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,490</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27718364</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayteedancer/pseuds/kayteedancer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It came to no one’s surprise that as more and more dwarrow returned to Erebor and rediscovered the ancestral homes of their people, a resurgence of the Old Ways grew accordingly.</p><p>What wasn’t good about the return to the Old Ways was how isolationist they were. These dwarrow tried to eschew interactions with anyone outside of Erebor, tried to minimize any and all interaction with the humans of Dale, tried to espouse a <i>Dwarrow-first</i> viewpoint that left a sour taste in many of the Company’s mouths, especially considering the multitude of races that helped them retake Erebor in the first place.</p><p>Especially considering how their Burglar, the Hobbit responsible for <i>so much</i>, had chosen to make his home in Erebor.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bilbo Baggins &amp; Thorin's Company, Bilbo Baggins/Kíli, Dís &amp; Fíli &amp; Kíli (Tolkien), Dís &amp; Kíli (Tolkien)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>November Challenge 2020 [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a mother always has to think twice (once for herself, and once for her son)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This one is sooooo late... but that just means two installments today, right??? So here’s the (late) Day 24!</p><p>In a Hobbit universe where everyone lives and no one dies, we’ve got some fluff in this one, some unrequited love, and some protective Dís getting ready to defend her son (and his One) no matter what! And we’ve got another rarepair because I easily fell in love with the potential dynamic between Kíli and Bilbo ❤️</p><p>Today's installment was inspired by Writing Prompt #1367 by @promptsforthestrugglingauthor on tumblr. While I changed a few things to make it work, I'm pretty happy with how well I used the prompt itself. Definitely check them out if you're in the market for interesting prompts!! 😁</p><p>I will continue to say this until I'm blue in the face: I can't thank everyone who's been leaving me kudos and comments and bookmarking all my fics enough. I read and respond to every comment, and I can't tell you all how much it means to me to see how much you're enjoying my writing. Thank you so, so much. ❤️❤️</p><p>Please let me know what you think of this installment, and come say hi on my tumblr (@sleepeatdancedream)! I would love to talk about fandom, writing, or life in general. Or if that's not your speed, feel free to leave a prompt or twelve of your own there!</p><p>I hope you enjoy Day 24! Title is a quote by Sophia Loren</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Against all odds, Thorin’s Company managed to remain intact through the Battle of the Five Armies. Not without injuries of course, considerable injuries in the cases of the Durins who had even odds of whether they would wake up at all, but now nearly a year after the end of the Battle Kíli, Fíli, and Thorin were up and leading Erebor into a new age.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dwarrow had returned to the Lonely Mountain in drips then droves once they realized the Durins once again reigned in Erebor, and soon enough the Lonely Mountain was full of dwarrow cleaning and working and bringing Erebor back into glory.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So it came to no one’s surprise that as more and more dwarrow returned to Erebor and rediscovered the ancestral homes of their people, that a resurgence of the Old Ways grew accordingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mostly, it was a good thing. Returning to the Old Ways meant a bit more ceremony, a bit more regulation of when and how to harvest certain veins beneath Erebor, meant a bit more giving thanks for the things that Erebor gave them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>None of these things were bad! If it meant that Thorin, Fíli, Kíli, and even Dís added certain extra duties to their plates, it was the </span>
  <em>
    <span>least</span>
  </em>
  <span> they could do for their people who had suffered and lost so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What wasn’t good about the return to the Old Ways was how </span>
  <em>
    <span>isolationist</span>
  </em>
  <span> they were. These dwarrow tried to eschew interactions with anyone outside of Erebor, tried to minimize any and all interaction with the humans of Dale, tried to espouse a </span>
  <em>
    <span>Dwarrow-first</span>
  </em>
  <span> viewpoint that left a sour taste in many of the Company’s mouths, especially considering the multitude of races that helped them retake Erebor in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Especially considering how their Burglar, the Hobbit responsible for finding the Arkenstone, for saving Thorin from the depths of his gold madness, for distracting Azog and ensuring Fíli’s survival as his wound just </span>
  <em>
    <span>barely </span>
  </em>
  <span>missed being fatal, for intervening just as Azog resurfaced from the ice and taking a blow meant for Thorin allowing the King Under the Mountain to defeat the White Orc once and for all, had chosen to make his home in Erebor once he had healed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t anything major at first. Just, dwarrow “forgetting” Bilbo's order and getting it to him late or slightly incomplete or with slightly inferior materials, but it was all things that could be explained away by a lack of time, or how hard everyone was working to make Erebor habitable again. But it began escalating to dwarrow not acknowledging the Hobbit when they passed him in the halls, to acting like they couldn’t hear him when he called their names, to trying as much as possible to not have to interact directly with the Hobbit and refusing to make eye contact when dealing with him was unavoidable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The poor treatment and downright avoidance of the Hobbit weighed on him to the point where Bilbo began to withdraw to his room, to only interact with those of the Company if he interacted with anyone at all. The upbeat, funny, and loyal hobbit he had become at the end of their journey together slowly withered and shrank, reverting to who he was at the beginning of the journey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Company watched worriedly as Bilbo slipped further and further into himself, before they finally couldn’t ignore it anymore, couldn’t hope that Bilbo was going to bring himself out of his shell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Company would have to step in. They couldn’t allow their Hobbit to disappear, whether to his books or, Mahal forbid, </span>
  <em>
    <span>back to the Shire.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Which led to what was happening now. The dwarrow of Thorin’s Company and Princess Dís had all squeezed into Thorin’s study so late it was early morning, jostling and suppressing yawns as they grumbled in the semi-darkness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, alright,” Thorin grumbled, and the dwarrow subsided into silence. “We know why we’re here. The Dwarrow of the Old Ways are taking their agenda out on our Hobbit and making him withdraw.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This obviously can’t stand,” Fíli continued, stroking his moustache braids as he sighed. “Master Baggins is </span>
  <em>
    <span>our</span>
  </em>
  <span> Hobbit, the most dwarrow-like Hobbit we’ve ever seen, and we will not allow him to isolate himself within the mountain or leave Erebor altogether,” Fíli finished gravely, and the entire Company grumbled in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, we have a dilemma on our hands,” Princess Dís’s voice rang through the room, silencing the upset dwarrow. “We cannot in good faith allow the DOTOW to run our Hobbit out of Erebor, but we also cannot force the DOTOW to not live according to their beliefs as they have done so much good in the rebuilding of Erebor. The question remains, how should we solve this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before the words had even finished coming out of the Princess’s mouth, a hand in the back of the room shot into the air. Dís turned to the shadowed corner, a single eyebrow raising as she realized who the hand belonged to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me rephrase,” she added, valiantly attempting to hold back the smirk that twitched at her lips. “How should we solve this problem in a way that does </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> involve the murder of the leaders of the DOTOW.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dís lost the battle with her smirk as Nori’s hand dropped back down slowly, and a few of the Company nearest the Spymaster snickered at the dwarrow’s dejected look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean, do we really have to </span>
  <em>
    <span>avoid</span>
  </em>
  <span> murder, though?” Kíli groused from the corner next to Ori. “Anyone who takes action against Bilbo is essentially putting themselves at odds with the Throne of Erebor. Bilbo is a trusted confidant of the King Under the Mountain and a loyal friend to the line of Durin. An insult to him is an insult to us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kíli’s pronouncement set the other dwarrow of the Company off, prompting them to start calling ideas and possibilities out to Thorin. The volume began to climb steadily as the calm of the room devolved around them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dís’s other eyebrow rose to meet the first as she shot a look at her younger son from the corner of her eye. Such vehemence was unlike her dark-haired son. Kíli was generally fun-loving and easy-going, and nearly having his left arm severed from his body in the Battle of the Five Armies and having to slowly relearn how to do regular tasks hadn’t managed to take that away from him. Apparently, it took ostracizing and making the Hobbit feel unwelcome to bring out Kíli’s temper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dís looked over to her other son only to see his eyes twinkling with mirth as he watched his unusually sullen brother, who had sat back and glowered as the rest of the dwarrow clamored around him. Lips twitching into a small smile, Dís abandoned Thorin to the mercy of the Company as she moved to sit next to her pouting son.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know more than anyone that we can’t just murder the leaders of DOTOW, Kí,” Dís replied softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But we can’t let this go on, Mother!” Kíli snapped, rubbing his hands over his face. “Bilbo will </span>
  <em>
    <span>leave Erebor</span>
  </em>
  <span> if this continues, and I can’t — we can’t let that happen!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dís’s smile dropped from her face as she breathed, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Oh, my Kíli, why haven’t you told him? Why haven’t you told anyone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kíli pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them as he stared at the floor. “Hobbits don’t have Ones, Mother,” Kíli flatly stated. “And it would be selfish of me to tell him and for us to be together here in Erebor when he is being made so unhappy here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dís’s heart broke for her selfless son as she wrapped her arm around Kíli’s shoulders. “Bilbo would want to know, my gulmalûm,” Dís replied softly. “He wouldn’t want you to suffer in silence like you have been.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kíli just shrugged in response, and Dís stayed close to him for a few moments more. She hated seeing her normally happy and mischievous child so sullen and hurting, and Dís felt something light up within her with all the power and force of a dragon’s flame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Looking up, Dís caught Fíli’s eye from where he was listening to Thorin and the more vocal members of the Company. Nodding, Fíli disengaged from the group, moving to take her place as Kíli’s protector. Squeezing her son’s shoulders once more, Dís released him just in time for Fíli’s strong arm to take her place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dís glided across the room to the shadowed corner she knew Nori had claimed as his own. She bared her teeth as she caught Nori’s eye, seeing them burn brightly with the same protective instinct as her own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was sure Thorin wouldn’t mind </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> much how she took care of the issue as long as Bilbo stayed in Erebor. If it was in defense of her son’s One…Maybe a little bit of murder was acceptable.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b>gulmalûm:</b> Khuzdul term of endearment meaning “tiny sparkle”, meant for a child</p></blockquote></div></div>
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